Hi Tanmayee,
Welcome to your personalized Grit Lab Report!
We will go week by week, reviewing everything you have told us through Poll Everywhere.
We hope this will help you reflect on what you have learned and experienced during Grit Lab.
Important note!
Sometimes, you may not have been able to respond to all polls.
If the data for one of the polls is missing, the automatic report will display NA, or ““.
Okay, let’s get started!
The first half of Grit Lab delves deep intp the passion facet of Grit.
We like to call it Choose Easy, because we think gritty people pursue what they enjoy.
Putting it graphically, gritty people tend to pursue the intersection of these four circles.
The first time we met, you told us where you were on the grit rubric.
Regarding passion you picked Stage 3: I’m actively figuring out what my interests are by trying one or more of them out in some way .
Regarding perseverance you picked .
As you know, grit grows, so don’t worry if you are not yet where you’d like to be in your grit journey.
Hopefully, this class will help you become grittier each day.
In week 2, we looked at your interests.
Interest is an emotion, and it is the opposite of boredom.
Your interests are the activities or subjects that spontaneously grab your attention.
Trying things out and seeing how you feel is the best way to refine your interests.
In week 3, we studied values, your beliefs about what is important.
You said your top three values were self-direction, achievement, and benevolence.
You wrote a “This I Believe” essay, and here’s where you located it on Schwartz’s value taxonomy.
When we talked about strengths in week 4, you said your personality strength was openness.
You said your top three talents were spiritual, verbal, and social.
We then talked about goal hierarchies.
You said you had a pretty good idea about your top-level goal.
We discussed self-concordance, or how much a goal aligns to your deeply held values and beliefs.
A goal you said you will be pursuing for the next six months is to get a job .
Here is how self-concordant that goal was:
Don’t worry if your self-concordance for that particular goal is low.
It might mean that you need to reframe that goal in a way that makes it more relevant to your deep self, or change it!
Remember that self-concordance is goal specific, so other goals might be more self-concordant.
We then transitioned to the second part of Grit Lab:
Work Smart
In week 6, we looked at goal setting and planning.
You WOOPed!
For your Wish, what you wanted to accomplish, you said Excersize .
For your Outcome, what would happen if your wish came true, you said I will feel relaxed .
For you Obstacle, what it is within you that stands in your way, you said My sleep .
For your Plan, you created this when-then plan to achieve your goal: When I wake up I will go run .
Whether you changed your WOOP or stuck to that one, here’s where it landed between being a total fail, and going exactly according to plan.
And here’s how much you learned
These goals are hard, and despite our best efforts, our plans can fail.
The important thing is that you learn something along the way!
In week 7, we talked about deliberate practice.
You shared you’ve done daily practice in Mindfulness .
We learned that deliberate practice requires a challenging, hyperspecific goal, maximum concentration, instant feedback, and is often done alone.
In week 8, we discussed feedback.
Even though feedback can be hard to take, it is often the key to improve. So if you want to improve, seek it actively!
You said you felt Receptive when receiving critical feedback, and Receptive when receiving positive feedback.
We then turned to learning about stress.
In week 9, you reported feeling a lot of stress in your life right now, the primary source of it being job search .
We also talked about adversity and failure.
Although related, adversity and failure are different:
Adversity happens to us, whereas failure is something for which we are generally more responsible.
However, how we interpret stress and failure matters…
Interestingly, research has found that people who believe that stress can facilitate learning and growth experience enhanced performance, well-being, and health.
And failure—not achieving a particular goal—can be interpreted as “I’m learning!” and lead you to look for the lesson in that experience.
We closed the Work Smart section of the class by talking about habits.
Throughout the semester, you practice habit building using your Build-A-Habit Guide book.
You describe the habit you chose as Health .
Whether you were successful in habit building or not, this is how much you learned.
Finally, what good is grit if we do not dream for others?
So, we transitioned to Paying it Forward.
In week 10, we looked at mentors: role models that take an active role in your growth.
Hopefully, your mentor was authoritative, being both supportive and demanding.
Here’s how you described them:
You also wrote a gratitude letter to Parent .
In one word, you said it made you feel Grateful .
One way of paying it forward is having a prosocial, beyond-the-self purpose. Here’s how you responded to items assessing that.
… and so quickly we arrived at the end of the semester.
Here’s how your mood varied over these weeks.
![]()
Do you notice any patterns? Is there anything that correlates with your mood?
Here you can scroll through all the quotes you wrote to summarize each class.
| |
| It's about the journey, not the destination. |
| Find a career at the intersection of your two opposite ONET interests. |
| Consulting is not the only career path. |
| Find compatibility in partners |
| Positive thinking is not enough. |
| Deliberate practice is not enjoyable |
| Ask for advice, not feedback. |
| Use stress as a way to fuel you. |
| Set up a plan! |
| Find a mentor at Penn |
| Making a WOOP on top of ur 5 minute favor will help you execute. |
In the final class, we looked back to everything we’ve learned together and to how our passion and perseverance evolved during this class.
Here are the comments from your Grit Lab Teammates:
| |
| Sarah Tran |
| Tanmayee's role in our team is marked by her leadership in discussions, where she consistently offers honest and insightful perspectives on various topics. Her willingness to extend help beyond the classroom, in both academic and personal spheres, has been a great support for me. Her exceptional listening skills and kind approach make her a valuable confidante and advisor. Witnessing her achieve her fitness goals in the gym has been a source of pride and inspiration, highlighting her dedication and perseverance.
In her Discovery project, Tanmayee demonstrated remarkable grit, especially in overcoming her fear of the gym. Her journey to conquering this fear was not just courageous but also deeply motivating. Her presentation was as effective as it was appealing; the aesthetically pleasing slides effectively communicated her analysis. I particularly admired the way she incorporated images to document her process, providing a vivid and engaging narrative of her journey. Her ability to transform a personal challenge into an academic exploration is a testament to her resilience and innovative thinking. |
| Nikita Venugopal |
| It has been so nice to get to know Tanmayee throughout the course of the semester. Tanmayee's kindness and sincerity shine through everything she says and does. I really admire how much she truly cares about both her friends and family, and how much she wants to support others -- as a mentor and as a peer. Tanmayee's calm humor and warmth are infectious, and her input is always invaluable. Her style is also incredible, and she brings an irreplaceable energy to our group.
I loved Tanmayee's discovery project, as it was both genuine and relatable. Her learnings after working on her exercise routine were helpful to me, too, as someone who is also trying to exercise more regularly. I particularly loved her advice to have a gym friend for accountability and to "prioritize exercise like you prioritize showering." Her project idea was wonderful overall, as exercise is always revered as something that can really improve one's life and make one happier. It's also a great way to practice grit! |
| Annabel Chang |
| For Tanmayee:
When I first met Tanmayee, I was awestruck by her impeccable fashion sense and composure. She immediately said a quick hello, which relieved my nerves about meeting new classmates. Our two other teammates already knew each other beforehand, so naturally Tanmayee and I became implied partners. Initially, we did not speak much, as we were still familiarizing ourselves with the pair-and-shares and discussion-heavy class structure. Over time, we began chatting about our personal lives, and found many similarities. For example, she grew up experiencing the same academic pressures as I did and was also struggling to find a career path. We bonded over our anxieties for the future, which in turn allowed us to reassure one another. I began to feel much more comfortable opening up and being myself, even joking in my usual manner with her. We talked about our weeks, our families, and our hobbies. I admired her strong work ethic, while she took inspiration from my exercise routine. My favorite memories of Tanmayee occurred when I would sometimes doodle in class (whoops!). I often drew different cartoon animals, and when she noticed, she commented on their cuteness, and soon began suggesting animals for me to draw. She gave me ideas to draw a savannah habitat, jungle animals, and many more. It became our shared inside joke. I looked forward to hearing her suggestions and attempting to draw animals I have never drawn before. As the semester is ending, I want to leave Tanmayee with some advice of my own: Tanmayee, though things may feel uncertain right now, I can assure you your confidence and drive will help you weather any storm. I hope the best for you!
Tanmayee’s project was to establish a consistent exercise routine. During the semester, she often talked about wanting to get into exercise, but found it difficult to stay motivated or prioritize exercise over other responsibilities. As I had an exercise routine, I would try and give her advice on how to approach exercise. Over time, I could tell she was making good progress in her project. She would share with us successful trips to the gym, and she seemed more and more motivated. In her presentation, she talked about discovering running, in part inspired by her discovery BFF. I understood that developing a consistent exercise routine requires you to find a type of movement you enjoyed. In essence, she had “chosen easy” by choosing a niche within her field that aligned with her intrinsic motivation. She also talked about interviewing for a job as part of a running club, despite being a novice. Her commitment to her project was admirable, and highlighted the importance of “crossing the Rubicon” and just challenging yourself to try something new, even if you do not feel ready yet. I hope she continues developing this passion, and that one day we could even workout together!
|
We hope you have emerged from Grit Lab a little grittier than you started.
Do you want to see how your grit rubric changed?
Drumroll please…
Don’t worry if the rubric doesn’t yet reflect growth. It is only a coarse measure that cannot replace your own self-reflection.
In any case, grit is not built in a day…
…remember that progress is never smooth…
…so stay passionate and persevering in the lifelong quest of choosing easy, working smart, and paying it forward.
With grit and gratitude,
Angela and the Grit Lab team.